Implementation and Validation Approach of the C-ITS Novel Solution Proposed by SAFE STRIP for Self-Explanatory and forgiving Infrastructures

Proven positive effects of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) are in many cases prohibited by the non-negligible cost required for the initial installation but also maintenance of the infrastructure and the on-board vehicle intelligent systems that need to be deployed for their operation. In parallel, a series of State of the Art cooperative safety and automated solutions do not exploit data directly originating from the infrastructure and the environment, failing, in this way, to have the most reliable possible safety critical information that is vital to the optimum fulfillment of their objectives; that being primarily the increase of traffic safety. SAFE STRIP (SAFE and green Sensor Technologies for self-explaining and forgiving Road Interactive aPplications) EU funded project envisions to simultaneously address those challenges by introducing a revolutionary C-ITS approach through the placement of low-cost innovative sensorial frameworks on the road pavement surface itself in order to acquire reliable and lane specific traffic and environmental information that is directed through I2X (Infrastructure to Everything) communication to all types of vehicles. The current manuscript presents the vision and objectives, the core use cases serving as the proof of concept of the technological solution built, the implementation approach towards delivering the solution and, finally, the multilayered validation approach anticipated by the Consortium towards delivering a prototype of an as much as possible high technological readiness as well as C-ITS functions evidencing its value.